MindManager 8

I have written about MindManager before (here, here, here and here). A few months ago I finally took the step and tried out version 8. I never bothered installing version 7 let alone trying it out after I have received comments that other users had similar issues (in particular performance) in version 7 that I observed in versions 5 and 6.

Now here is the nice surprise: Finally the software is a useful tool from a performance perspective. And I don't have to switch off hardware acceleration.

And apparently some more work went into improving the tool. It has become easier to to selection the handles to modify the curves representing a relationship between two nodes. In previous versions it sometimes took selecting other elements, then selecting the relationship again to be able to hit the handle. It's not perfect yet but at least usable.

With regards to the performance I need to be more specific. The load time is now a little bit of an issue. I sometimes think for a moment whether I really want to close the program since starting takes quite some time. I'm not sure what it is doing, maybe counting each bit of my laptops memory? Once it's loaded working with maps is very smooth.

There are items in version 8, though, which would benefit from putting some more thoughts into them.

The Outlook addin doesn't seem to be up to it's job. After I installed it Outlook became very unstable. After I disabled the addin things went back to normal. So in the meantime I'm not using the Outlook addin. And quite frankly: I'm not missing it! What exactly were the benefits of the addin?

Another area worth considering is how call-outs can be placed in a map. Sometimes I wish I could place them further out on a map or close to the node that it is related to. However, if that node has many children and all are expanded the call-out has to be above or below all of them in terms of vertical position. That way the call-out ends up to be very far away. The layout algorithm should allow more freedom for call-outs.

So bottom line we are now looking at a product that has reached the maturity that as a leader you would expect from productivity tools. A few minor areas remain that MindJet should consider. But for now MindManager 8 is a very valuable piece of software and I use it on a daily basis.

Note: I'm not affiliated with MindJet or have any financial interest in the company or the product. The opinions expressed in this post are entirely my personal view and are not paid for.

A reply from MindJet (makers of MindManager)

In one of my previous posts I mentioned that I wrote to MindJet and suggested a free trial with a sufficient time-out. Along with my request I sent a justification.

I already heard back from them. A person from their sales department provided me with the information the download - OK, everybody can do that - but also with details for an extended trial.

So here are the positive remarks:

1. Fast response. It was less than 24 hours after my enquiry.
2. Good enough response. I got the information that I was hoping for.

So, I guess, I'll give it a try, and then I'll take it from there.

More on MindManager

I just received a marketing email encouraging me to upgrade from MindManager 6 (MM6) to MindManager 7 (MM7).

Well, at least this time they don't try to sell me on all those performance improvements.

Still, why should I pay for an upgrade if I don't know whether the performance issues are fixed?

They claim that 91% of those customers who upgraded to MM7 are "satisfied" or "very satisfied" after they upgraded. What they didn't mention how many of the customers that are on version prior to MM7 are dissatisfied with the software and don't intend to upgrade any time soon.

Also, under the headline "MindManager Pro 7 by the numbers" they claim that there are over one million licenses of MindManager around the world. They didn't say whether this is just MM7 or whether this figure includes prior version. I assume the latter.

So overall, I do understand the intention. They would like to get people off old versions onto the current one, and that way they can collect the upgrade fees.

I sent an email to their sales department asking for a 90 days trial license key. I have upgraded to 5 then to 6, each time hoping that the performance issues are resolved. Each time I paid money then I got a license. This time I think it would be more than fair to do it the other way round. I get the license first - time-limited to 90 days - and if their product turns out to be as fantastic as they claim - which it is without doubt! (sarcasm!) - then I'll be happy to pay for the upgrade.

So let's see what they come back with. At the moment my confidence level regarding MindManager isn't very high.

More on MindManager

Thank you for the comments on my previous MindManager blog entry!

Granted, performance issues can certainly depend on many different factors. According to my information the majority of the users don't seem to have performance issues. But there also seem to be a non-negligible number of users who did experience those issues.

However it is no help to the latter group of users if the former group of user have performance issues.

In my particular case when I observed the performance problems

• There was enough free memory (hundreds of MBytes)
• There was enough free hard disk space
• CPU usage was less than 10%
• No network usage
• No disk I/O

That basically indicates that probably more than one thread is running and a lock conflict is happening with one thread waiting for the other. Eventually a time-out will occur and the software continues to run. This is just a guess based on my observations, and the real issue might be a completely different one.

If you have used and developed professionally many different software products over 15 years then you start to get a sense for when a software has an issue. If a promise is given several times ("Update and the performance issues are resolved...") then I simply stop believing it. Instead of asking me to pay for an upgrade that solves an issues I would prefer to get a properly working version in the first place.

Anyways. Too many words already spent on the subject. I will consider giving version 7 a try.

MindManager, Performance, and Other Issues

For gathering new, complex, and broad areas of knowledge I found mind maps to be a very efficient tool. Although drawing on paper is often faster, an electronic version has it's advantages, too. As a product I use MindManager.

I have been using MindManager from MindJet for a several years now. Performance has always been an issue, but admittedly the featureset has improved over time. Each time there was a new version the company promised that the performance issue would be addressed.

I can't remember which version I started with. I upgraded several times, and currently the version number is 6.2.399 Service Pack 2. The performance with a map of reasonable size is poor. My laptop has no CPU usage, no I/O, plenty of free memory, and no network activity. When pressing the "Insert" key to add a new topic, it is as if the product doesn't do anything at all. It can take many, many seconds until it does something.

Of course I did complain to technical support. The people were very responsive. They suggested to switch off hardware acceleration for the graphics adapter. I tried that, and it helps. Sometimes.

Some observations:

• Suggesting to switch off hardware acceleration is basically like saying "Yes, sure did you buy the Ferrari, but adding our add-on allows for driving in first gear only." I didn't pay for a laptop with graphics hardware acceleration just to hear from a software vendor that I shouldn't use parts of it. That's not what I would call protection of my existing investments.
• Why is it that other software vendors are able to write software that has no issue with hardware acceleration?
• When I disconnect from the network and/or run the computer with batteries, the performance becomes even worse. I have had instances where MindManager didn't respond to user input for 15 minutes or more. By then I decided to kill the program. What has the network to do with graphics hardware acceleration?

A more "minor" issue is the function "Balance Map". If I could only figure out, what it is good for... When I click it, it rearranges the topics, but I can't find that the map is more balanced... Usually I have to print it on larger sheets, or I have to use a zoom of 38% instead of 50% or so.

Now, MindJet has made available version 7, and they encourage me to upgrade. Of course I have to pay for the upgrade. Why should I trust them that the tool has really been improved? Why should I pay for an upgrade if I cannot even get the existing version in a status that allows me to fully use it?

Given my experience I might just go for an open source tool or try a competitor. Maybe there are competitive cross-update offerings... Maybe I try FreeMind. They even claim that their software is faster to use than MindManager.